I gotta imagine that even Kim Jong Fatty knows that North Korea would be quickly destroyed if they actually attacked South Korea, Japan, or the US, and that China wouldn't do much more to back them up than sending a strongly worded letter to the State Department. These threats are probably more for internal consumption than anything.

I just wish that China would step up here and say, "Look, you wanna talk, we can talk. Cut the crazy bomber bullshiat." But China seems to want to be thought of as a superpower, but doesn't want to do any of the work that a superpower needs to do.

I wonder if the average North Korean even realizes just how BIG America is. As in total surface area big. Do they think that even with the 4th (or is it 5th now?) largest army in the world that they will be able to land on the shores of California and capture the entire country? I know that these people are indoctrinated from birth to hate America and the "American puppet regime in South Korea", and that their version of history is tainted (to put it mildly), but surely they have to look at the landmass of the US and think "gee, how are we going to cripple the entire place?"

I have read a lot of books and watched many documentaries lately about North Korea and the one consistent fact is the sheer hatred of America. There is a scene in one where a North Korean was captured by Americans and was convinced that they were going to eat him after brutal torture, and was amazed when they fed him and treated him better than his own military did. There is another documentary (I think it is "Don't Tell My Mother I'm In....") where a North Korean is walking by the host and just clocks him because he thought that he was an American (solely on the basis that the guy was speaking English).

Even if we were to "liberate" the North Koreans from the rule of the Kim dynasty, I seriously doubt that they would be grateful. They would rely upon their Juche philosophy, not bending, not asking for the help of others. While I think those who live closest to the border regions can understand that their lives are going to improve, those further in the country without access to any information from the outside world will probably rebel.

Oh, and it has been said before: China doesn't want to slap down the craziness that is Kim Jong Un because they do not want to deal with a huge influx of North Korean refugees. That is why they also catch and return any who escape and repatriate them back to North Korea, even knowing that they will be tortured, imprisoned, possibly killed, and if pregnant, have a forced abortion in addition to other cruelties. It is easier for them to turn a blind eye to the crazy than to deal with "fixing" a downfallen regime.

Do they have nuclear weapons? Yes.Do they have rockets? Yes.Do they have the ability to place nuclear weapons on rockets? Yes, within 5 years.Do they have rockets that can reach Japan? Yes.Do they have rockets that can reach the US? Yes, within 5 years - some think now.Can the US respond with nuclear weapons? No, not without massive radioactive fallout on Japan.

Argue with the details, but the day will come in the not too distant future when they can and may launch nuclear missiles.

I would like to know what the chinese and norks say to each other. Its widely reported that one major reason China supports NK is simply to prevent a massive humanitarian disaster from happening on its doorstep and sending refugees by the millions across the border.

However, lately it seems that they are pushing even China a bit too much.

I'm imagining a mid-30's man in NK who's not that unlike myself, reading this info about the destruction of America, thinking "haha, we should totally do it. We should just totally nuke those dumb farkers back to the stone age!"

Then I look around at the people (well, alts, probably) I'm surrounded by, and I kind of get it. He's the guy at the pho shop everyone is pretty much tired of hearing talk. At least here I can disagree without being imprisoned.

/Stupid NK guy. Shoulda picked a better country to be born in.//ammiright?

I just can't understand how freaking incompetent their propaganda is. With all their plots over the years, you'd think they'd have a few of their foreign educated people act as propaganda advisors. "Yeah, miserable destruction? They'll laugh and think we're idiots."

North Korea will never intentionally start shiat with us or South Korea. But, I do worry if rhetoric like this will get some random soldier on a cannon near the DMZ a little too hyped up on patriotism (and deluded by hunger) to pull the trigger and start a chain reaction that leads to thousands of deaths.

viscountalpha:They can pull off a nuke. It's not like inertial confinement is some big secret. If you don't understand some of the basics of nuclear weapon design, STFU.

WTF are you on about? The "basics of nuclear weapon design"? Really? Here is the facts of the matter: North Korea has developed a "Fat Man" type weapon which utilizes a crude ballistic trigger to cause fissile mass to reach criticality.

Even the 2009 "Nuclear Test" generated a yield of less than 2.4 kilotons. And it was not launched by a rocket or missile.

This is the same technology that required the entire bomb bay of a B-29 bomber to deliver in 1945. Fat Man was 4kT.

viscountalpha:And, have you been FARKING PAYING ATTENTION TO THEIR MISSILE PROGRAM!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_Korean_missile_tests

OH MY GOD! MISSILE DESIGNS BASED ON THE SOVIET SCUD III PLATFORM WHICH CAN'T EVEN HIT IN THE GENERAL 100 MILE AREA OF WHAT THEY ARE AIMED AT ARE CRASHING INTO THE OCEAN! SOUND THE PANIC ALARM! WE MUST INVADE IMMEDIATELY. ITS NOT LIKE THE UNITED STATES OR ITS ALLIES HAVE ANY DEFENSE AGAINST THE SCUD PLATFORM.

Jesus Christ. Did you read your own link? Other than one successful launch which placed a satellite into orbit, every one of their missile platforms have failed miserably. In addition, these are IRBM platforms. The Tapodong platform cannot reach the US.

viscountalpha:I'm done posting to the forums for people who don't even do basic legwork to back up their baseless, idiotic arguments.

No, you're pants pissingly terrified of a country which can't feed it's own people accomplishing, only with the backing of a massive international research consortium mixed with a healthy dose of reverse engineering decade old Russian tech which American weapons were designed to counter, to partially detonate a crude nuclear device that is nowhere near battlefield functional.

bingo the psych-o:Anyone else wondering if the Chinese government will tolerate North Korea for much longer?

That's my thought. America just has to keep subtly reminding China how bad it would be for them if North Korea tried this crap and eventually China will do something. I'm sure they have a better idea of what Kim is doing than we do.

Mr. Eugenides:Glancing Blow: Do they have rockets that can reach the US? Yes, within 5 years - some think now.

As soon as you have the ability to put something in orbit, you can hit anywhere on earth.

And if you believe that you must believe this:

Aladeen: It's too round at the top! it need to be pointy. round is not scary! Pointy is scary. This will put a smile on the faces of the enemy. They will think it's a huge robot dildo flying towards them

Nadal: No! Supreme leader the shape of the missiles top has nothing to do with the aero-dynamic. it's about the playbill delivery!

Aladeen: No! its six at the ground and then.. Caboom.

Nadal: Supreme leader! i think perhaps some of your information about bombs is coming from cartoons?

Aladeen: Nonsense! i have been watching a research films!

Nadal: When this film.. just one question? Was there a duck who when the explosion is happens his bill goes around the back of his head. and then in order to took! he had took back in this way?

Aladeen: There was somebody who was suffer the form of like that.. Yeah.

Nadal: Now I'm one-hundred percent sure that you are watching cartoons!

Githerax:What a strange situation for Kim Jong-un. He was educated in Europe, then has to go home and run a country in that manner. He must realize what a sham his life is, how can he stand it?

I've wondered a lot about this myself. Dude has seen the outside world, he is personally familiar with the west and is accutely aware of the bullshiat being stacked tall and deep by his government. Then I wonder if maybe, just maybe, he's in his own 24 hour living hell. Like some kind of horrible deal with the devil where he has to maintain The Big Lie even though he wants to change and knows better. I mean how the hell else can one explain that haircut??

cretinbob:We have paranoid psychotic rednecks with AR-15's to protect us, so there's that.

I know you were being sarcastic, but that is indeed something to consider. That's why I never fear a ground invasion of the States. Not only do we have the best military in the world, but don't underestimate the power of 50,000 rednecks with assault and deer rifles. And I'm sure the thugs in the cities can hold down their end of the fort, too.

Glancing Blow:Do they have nuclear weapons? Yes.Do they have rockets? Yes.Do they have the ability to place nuclear weapons on rockets? Yes, within 5 years.Do they have rockets that can reach Japan? Yes.Do they have rockets that can reach the US? Yes, within 5 years - some think now.Can the US respond with nuclear weapons? No, not without massive radioactive fallout on Japan.

Argue with the details, but the day will come in the not too distant future when they can and may launch nuclear missiles.

They HAVE nuclear weapons that CAN reach Seoul RIGHT NOW. Have they done it yet? No. Why? Because the rest of the world would annihilate them.

So in five years they might be able to reach the US with a couple of nukes. Would they? No. Why? Because the rest of the US would annihilate them.

It's never a question of CAN your enemy hit you with A nuke. It's can your enemy hit you with enough nukes to utterly cripple your ability to retaliate in kind. There was about one time when this issue was in doubt, and that was about the mid-1970's when the US and USSR were roughly at parity in the nuclear arms race. ("Roughly" because the US still had the edge in conventional weapons, while the USSR had the edge in manpower) So who cares if Best Korea has the ability to drop one or even two nukes someplace on earth, and who cares if the US was too polite to nuke them back in case we irradiated Japan more than it already is? We've still got the conventional firepower to dig a trench from the 38th Parallel to the Manchurian border.

And it's not as if Best Korea can put together a US-demolishing arsenal of nukes in five years. After China, the next-biggest arsenal currently on-line is India, with somewhere under a hundred. After forty years of making bombs. And they're pretty good at it. I just don't see Best Korea as being in the same league somehow.

Glancing Blow:Reverend J: I'd be more apt to believe your scenario if their last rocket wasn't hand-welded. Plus we do have surface-to-air ICBM intercept missiles and whatnot

That program has met with very very limited success. As you may recall Bush stopped allowing the testing and results from being public in early 2003, I believe. Even the new Israel iron-dome is only 80-90% effective. In my judgment, the biggest hurdle they face will be landing it where they want it to go. I don't really know the technology, but I think not taking this threat seriously is a grave error.

No, we have actual ICBM's whose purpose is to get within "close enough" distance to the incoming ICBM, and detonate our own nuke in order to knock theirs out of the sky.

That's been our plan since the beginning, when shiat started with the ruskies. Star Wars is a more "let's not scorch the earth" method, which we would prefer.

LavenderWolf:Argue with the details, but the day will come in the not too distant future when they can and may launch nuclear missiles.

There are nuclear weapons that do not leave significant radioactive fallout, and they are in the US's arsenal

tomahawk cruise missiles can carry up to 1,000 lbs of conventional explosives, can be targeted tightly, launched from submarines near Japan. i don't think going full nuclear is necessary, even if they tag us with one.

Do you really think Obama has the cajones to risk the US cities then? Especially not LA/Hollywood as that is one of his core supporter areas. He couldn't get re-elected again if he loses Hollywood. This is what lil Kim is planning..get nukes, invade the South and blackmail the US.

Obama is not goinga to do anything about it and then will retreat when threatened. Just remember, you saw it here first!

They were bastards for the South and a small UN contingent to fight against during the summer of 1950. They were run over like roadkill from 15 Sep 1950-18 Oct 1950. By then the war was over for the KPA. They sat out 1951-1953 and let the Chinese take the ball.

Reverend J:I'd be more apt to believe your scenario if their last rocket wasn't hand-welded. Plus we do have surface-to-air ICBM intercept missiles and whatnot

That program has met with very very limited success. As you may recall Bush stopped allowing the testing and results from being public in early 2003, I believe. Even the new Israel iron-dome is only 80-90% effective. In my judgment, the biggest hurdle they face will be landing it where they want it to go. I don't really know the technology, but I think not taking this threat seriously is a grave error.

How much fun would it be if China just sent their 500k troops most in need of some real live training into NK and overthrew the country. Then they said "We don't want it, South Korea can have it. We'll just be selling them stuff in 10 years anyway. You're welcome, rest of the world." and went home.China gets to flex their muscles, North Koreans get to eat regularly, South Korea gets unification, and the rest of the world doesn't have to deal with the Kim family of loonies and their bombs. It's a win/win/win/win!

Pity Truman had no balls or spine (hey even Roosevelt didn't read him in on the Manhattan project...) and sorry South Korea, but IMO nuke the norks off the map before they start selling nukes to every achmed, aziz and farquad durka durka mohammed jihad type.

/serial y0, truman shouldve nuked the norks/red china and split the result with mother russia, wouldve made the world a much better place and spared us Vietfarkingnam

Glancing Blow:Do they have nuclear weapons? Yes.Do they have rockets? Yes.Do they have the ability to place nuclear weapons on rockets? Yes, within 5 years.Do they have rockets that can reach Japan? Yes.Do they have rockets that can reach the US? Yes, within 5 years - some think now.Can the US respond with nuclear weapons? No, not without massive radioactive fallout on Japan.

Argue with the details, but the day will come in the not too distant future when they can and may launch nuclear missiles.

but they won't, because we won't be trying to take over North Koreathey're worried about nothing

I was going to say I'd rather go out the way the guy in "Meaning of Life" did... but then I thought about it and there's lots of infertile women out there. Some of them must be hot. Maybe they can fark me to death.

Now That's What I Call a Taco!:North Korea will never intentionally start shiat with us or South Korea. But, I do worry if rhetoric like this will get some random soldier on a cannon near the DMZ a little too hyped up on patriotism (and deluded by hunger) to pull the trigger and start a chain reaction that leads to thousands of deaths.

I know they are just posturing (probably for their own citizens more than anybody else), and it's best to ignore them...but some small part of me thinks it would be funny if something of theirs blew up every time they said something like this.

"We will kill you all..." Boom"What happened to that airbase?"

"We will rain death down upon you from above..." Boom"Wait, where did the palace go?"

jake_lex:I gotta imagine that even Kim Jong Fatty knows that North Korea would be quickly destroyed if they actually attacked South Korea, Japan, or the US, and that China wouldn't do much more to back them up than sending a strongly worded letter to the State Department. These threats are probably more for internal consumption than anything.

I just wish that China would step up here and say, "Look, you wanna talk, we can talk. Cut the crazy bomber bullshiat." But China seems to want to be thought of as a superpower, but doesn't want to do any of the work that a superpower needs to do.

The only people who is viewing china as a superpower are mainly people like you. They couldn't care less either way and the term 'superpower' itself doesn't even exist in Mandarin. It was a termed coined by Americans for America.